Identificação de fungos produtores de enzimas extracelulares de interesse biotecnológico associados às formigas cortadeiras Atta sexdens (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

The mutualist relationship between the attines and microorganisms, although much studied, has not yet been fully elucidated. What is known is that the ants of the Attini tribe contain at least four associated microorganisms and several other parasites. Considering that microbial enzymes are currently the most used in industrial and biotechnological processes, the present work has the objective of identifying fungi associated with cutter ants Atta sexdens producing enzymes of biotechnological interest, aiming to evaluate the extracellular production of these biomolecules with catalytic activity. Cutting ants were collected in CAPMEDSOL / Coari-AM. Twenty - nine fungi were isolated and, after enzymatic screening, the most promising fungi submitted to morphological and molecular analyzes. The most expressive fungi were: Aspergillus zonatus - I = 4,4 (amylase), Aspergillus aculeatus - I = 4,8 (lipase), Rhizomucor variabilis - I = 5,33 (cellulase) and Penicillium citrinum - I = 5 , 46 (protease). After sorting, the best protease producer was subjected to quantification and enzymatic characterization using azocasein as the substrate. The crude enzymatic extract of the fungus Penicillium citrinum presented better enzymatic activity at neutral pH (7.0) with a temperature of 40 ° C, with catalytic activity equivalent to 326 U / mL. The microbial growth curve showed that the ideal fermentation time was 72 h.